Département de psychologie, Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières, 3351, boul. des Forges, C.P. 500, Trois-Rivières, Québec, G9A 5H7, Canada.
Université du Québec en Outaouais, Saint-Jérôme, Québec, J7Z 0B7, Canada.
Child Abuse Negl. 2023 Sep;143:106284. doi: 10.1016/j.chiabu.2023.106284. Epub 2023 Jun 15.
Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, there has been a worldwide increase in the incidence of child abuse. Studies show that the pandemic context contributes to exacerbate several risk factors usually associated with the use of violent disciplinary practices.
This study aims to better understand the role of parental burnout and child perceived as difficult as a parental stressor in the link between fear of COVID-19 and the use of parental violence (minor and severe physical violence and repeated psychological aggression).
The sample includes 467 mothers living in Québec (Canada) with a child aged 5 or less.
An online questionnaire, administered one year after the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic in Québec (March to May 2021), was used to measure parental violence, parental burnout, parental stress related to the perception of the child as difficult and fear of COVID-19. Serial mediation analyses were performed.
The main analyses confirmed the indirect association between fear of COVID-19 and the three forms of parental violence studied, through parental burnout and the child perceived as difficult. Unlike physical violence (minor and severe), the association between fear of COVID-19 and repeated psychological aggression is explained only by parental burnout.
This study has identified new mechanisms that allow a better understanding of processes underlying parental violence during the pandemic. It also shows that parental violence can also occur in low-risk families. It is crucial to develop strategies to prevent the use of violent disciplinary practices in future socio-health crises such as the COVID-19 pandemic.
自 COVID-19 大流行开始以来，儿童虐待的全球发病率有所增加。研究表明，大流行背景加剧了与使用暴力纪律措施相关的几个风险因素。
本研究旨在更好地理解父母倦怠和被视为困难的儿童作为父母压力源在 COVID-19 恐惧与父母暴力（轻微和严重的身体暴力以及反复的心理攻击）之间的联系中的作用。
该样本包括居住在加拿大魁北克的 467 名 5 岁以下儿童的母亲。
使用在线问卷，在魁北克 COVID-19 大流行开始一年后（2021 年 3 月至 5 月）进行，以衡量父母暴力、父母倦怠、与感知到的孩子有关的父母压力困难和对 COVID-19 的恐惧。进行了序列中介分析。
主要分析证实了 COVID-19 恐惧与三种形式的父母暴力之间的间接关联，这些暴力形式是通过父母倦怠和被视为困难的儿童表现出来的。与身体暴力（轻微和严重）不同，对 COVID-19 的恐惧与反复的心理攻击之间的关联仅通过父母倦怠来解释。
本研究确定了新的机制，有助于更好地理解大流行期间父母暴力的潜在过程。它还表明，在低风险家庭中也可能发生父母暴力。在未来的社会健康危机（如 COVID-19 大流行）中，制定预防使用暴力纪律措施的策略至关重要。
